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| Environmental Assessments |
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Sponsored by Ecostandart
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Ecostandart carries out independent environmental assessments of apartments, offices, country houses, land plots, interior objects and foodstuffs. We analyse water, air and soil and measure radiation, noise, vibrations and electromagnetic forces.
For more information on any of our services please contact:
Ecostandart Moscow, Vavilova st., 5/3, office 305
Tel/Fax: (+7 095) 723-7267, 995-5052
E-mail: info@ecostandart.ru
Web: www.ecohome.ru
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 What are environmental assessments and what do they tell us?
Why are they needed?
When are they needed?
How is the work carried out?
About Ecostandart
What ecological standards do we use?
Our laboratories
Did you know?
Case studies
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| 1. What are environmental assessments and what do they tell us? | |
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Environmental assessments are inspections, analyses and tests to check for any pollutants that are harmful to humans.
They include tests to determine:
• Radiation levels – to measure the background level of ionising radiation and identify local sources.
• Electromagnetic fields – to measure the density of magnetic currents and the intensity of electrical fields on both low and high frequencies.
• Noise levels
• Vibration levels
• Air quality – chemical analysis to reveal the presence of any harmful toxic elements (including phenol, formaldehyde, asbestos, aromatic hydrocarbons, mercaptans, mercury, hydrogen sulphides, benzol, toluene, carbon oxides, sulphur oxides, ammonia), and bacteriological analysis to determine the overall microbe count and the quantity of conventional and conventionally pathogenic microflora, and to reveal the presence of fungi or any possible bacteria (including legionella and aspergilla).
• Soil quality
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• Water quality – to determine its organoleptic qualities (smell, taste, coloration, cloudiness), chemical composition (chlorides, fluorides, manganese, iron), cleanliness and the presence of bacteria
These can be used to evaluate:
• Apartments
• Offices
• Country houses
• Land plots
• Industrial enterprises
• Building and decorative materials
• Furniture
• Interior objects
• Foodstuffs
• Air
• Water
• Soil
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| 2. Why are environmental assessments needed? | |
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The ecology of our homes and workplaces has a direct effect on our health. Poor environmental conditions in buildings can cause both minor ailments and serious illnesses. With the average person today spending between 18 and 23 hours a day at home, work or in the car, such conditions are even more important.
According to the American College of Allergists (ACA), 50% of people’s illnesses are either linked to or aggravated by environmental pollution in buildings. Those particularly susceptible include children, teenagers, pregnant women, the elderly and people who suffer respiratory and heart problems.
Recent years have seen state control over buildings in Russia become incredibly lax, so we need to keep a check on the environmental situation in our homes ourselves.
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Ecostandart recommends having an environmental assessment carried out if you:
• Intend to purchase property.
• Intend to rent property.
• Have noticed that while at home or at work you feel uncomfortable or tired, experience headaches or increased allergic reactions.
• Smell any unpleasant odours in your home or your workplace.
• Notice that your or your colleagues’ ability to work falls.
• Want reassurance about the environmental safety of your home or workplace.
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| 4. How is the work carried out? | |
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If you come across any ecological problems that you would like to have assessed, you can contact us by telephone or e-mail. Our experts will then come out to you and conduct the relevant tests and take any necessary samples there and then. In some cases, an initial examination will be required, which we provide free of charge. All samples are analyzed in the capital’s best laboratories. Research, protocols and reports about the work done, together with a conclusion and recommendations, take 10 working days to prepare.
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Ecostandart was created in 1997, initially on the basis of the geography, chemistry and biological faculties of Moscow State University and later as an independent organisation. The company carries out environmental assessments of apartments, offices, industrial enterprises, land plots and country houses. It makes recommendations and suggests possible solutions for any problems revealed.
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| 6. What ecological standards do we use? | |
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We use the following standards:
• ACA (American College of Allergists)
• EEC (European Economic Community)
• SanPin
• UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation)
• WHO (World Health Organisation)
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All the laboratories that we work with are accredited and state-approved.
Chemical analyses of air, soil, water, building materials, furniture and foodstuffs are carried out at the analytical centre of the chemistry faculty at Moscow State University.
Bacteriological analyses of air, water, soil and samples from various surfaces are carried out in the Gamaleya research institute.
The measurement of noise and vibration levels are carried out by the analytical centre of the physics faculty at Moscow State University.
The equipment used to measure electromagnetic fields and radiation levels is certified and state-approved.
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• Mobile phones might cause the number of cases of illnesses involving the nervous system and brain tumours to increase over the next 10-20 years.
• So far this year, 180 people have died from legionnaire's disease in France.
• Telephone substations are a likely cause of miscarriages, oncological illnesses, cardio-vascular problems and an increase in the overall mortality rate.
• In Russia, 109 million people (73% of the population) live in poor sanitary and hygienic conditions.
• From 1953 to 1976, the US embassy in Moscow was exposed to low-level microwave radiation, the alleged aim being to make its employees nervous.
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• One family came to us after having bought expensive Spanish furniture two months previously and then noticing an unnatural smell in the room where it stood. The furniture did have an environmental safety certificate. We carried out a complete chemical analysis of the air and found that the level of phenol and aromatic hydrocarbons was four times higher than the acceptable limit. The family returned the furniture to the shop from which they had bought it. Within a couple of days a manager from the shop contacted us asking for a copy of our findings.
• While examining a country house on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye highway, we discovered a dangerous situation in the children’s bedroom. Our experts found an overall microbe count of 230 KOE (the norm is less than 100), a conditionally pathogenic bacteria count of 57 KOE (none should be present) and mould fungi. As a result, the family decided to move their child’s bedroom and have the house and its ventilation system disinfected.
• One client asked us to carry out a full environmental assessment of an apartment that she had bought in a Stalin building on Leninsky Prospect. We discovered that the level of electromagnetic radiation was 10-12 times higher than the norm due to a transformer in the basement. As a result, she sold the flat.
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